Science Olympiad Food Science Resources

IFTSA is partnering with the National Science Olympiad to provide information for the Science Olympiad food science competition. This portion of the IFTSA website has information kindly donated by Mike Mangino of Ohio State University, who has put together a similar website specific for Science Olympiad competitions at Ohio State University (http://www-fst.ag.ohio-state.edu/olympiad/). Click on the various links below to learn more about food science or browse through some interesting laboratory exercises.

What is Food Science?

Food Science is the scientific study into the nature of food: its chemical composition, nutrient value, physical structure, flavor properties, changes during processing and storage, and causes of deterioration. The study requires the use of a wide variety of physical and chemical sciences: Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Physics, Engineering, Nutrition, Biology, Math, and other disciplines.

Food Science Career Paths

Food Engineering

Food engineers design and develop systems for processing, storing, packaging and handling food. They work closely with food chemists and food microbiologsts to ensure that safe, high quality foods are made available to consumers.

Product Development

Imagine the thrill of seeing your new product idea appear on the grocery store shelf or on a NASA space shuttle! Developers, working as part of a team, continually work to create high quality, nutritious products that taste good and are affordable to consumers.

Food Chemistry

Food chemists develop and improve foods and beverages; analyze methods of cooking, canning, freezing, and packaging; and study the effect of processing on the appearance, taste, aroma, freshness, and vitamin content of the food. They also test samples to make sure foods meet food safety laws and experiment with new foods, additives, and preservatives.

Food Quality and Microbiology

Consumers today can eat without having to worry about whether their food is safe. Food microbiologsts play a critical role to make sure a product is safe to consume. Food miaobiologists have expertise in fermentation, food hygiene, food-borne diseases, food spoilage, preservation, quality control, and lab management. Food safety is very important to all segments of the food industry.

Food Marketing and Sales

Picture yourself in a career where your creativity is used for advertising and promotion of food and food ingredients: A career where you use scientific and technical knowledge to sell products. Food marketing and sales professionals communicate through technical presentations, trade shows, print and virtual media, and face-to-face meetings with product developers. This is a career in Food Marketing and Sales.

Additional Career Paths

Exciting opportunities also exist in Consumer Research, Sensory Evaluation, Teaching, Regulatory Affairs as well as Nutrition and Basic Research. Food scientists find work in industry, academia, and non-profit and government institutions.

To learn more about the different aspects of the food science industry, please visit IFT's Introduction to the Food Industry. If you are interested in finding out what it is like to have a career in food science, check out Discovery.com's Food Science Website. You also can visit IFT.org to find a food scientist in your area if you would like to talk one on one with a practicing food scientist or find someone to give demonstrations and career talks in your classroom.

Food Science Tutorials

Food Science Laboratory Exercises

More Resources

To see the full list of resource links provided by Science Olympiad for the food science competition, please visit the National Science Olympiad Website. There are many other food science resources on the web, including:

Last Updated: July 10, 2008 * www.IFT.org * Problems with the website? Contact the webmaster.